[ShreyG]

My Bangalore-Rameshwaram finally see to be making headway and I leave this weekend.
So plan is as follows -
1. Bangalore - Salem (3 hrs)
2. Salem - Koppalur Toll ( 3 hrs)
3. Koppalur toll - Daiwik Rameshwaram (3hrs)

This gives me a total of 9 hrs on the road and total of 11 hours of travel time (2 hrs for bio and food breaks).
I just wanted to check if I am being over ambitious with 3 hour runs from Salem or Madurai or are they fairly ok.
Also, any recommendations for breakfast / lunch on the road will be highly appreciated

[Sanjeev V S]

1. Bangalore - Salem (4 hrs)
2. Salem - before Koppalur Toll ( 4 hrs)
3. Before Koppalur toll - Rameshwaram (3hrs)

I am planning this above route on 23-Oct-2022 yes I am aware of the Madurai bypass going around 50 Kms I want peace of mind ( 2W & 3W in Madurai is chaotic)

Leaving very early morning from my residence in Bannerghatta road, Bangalore in my 2022 facelifted XL6 with my family any pointers on Veg restaurants like A2B and others?

[Haldian]

Hello, I am planning this route as follows (Nov/Dec):

Day 1 : BLR -> Madurai : Madurai Temple visit - Night Halt at Madurai
Day 2 : Madurai -> Rameswaram <-> Dhanushkodi - Night Halt at Rameswaram
Day 3 : Rameswaram -> BLR

We, a vegetarian family of 3, will be travelling 1st time on this section. All pointers regarding breaks/stops, stays and food along the route and at destination are welcome.

Originally Posted by ShreyG

My Bangalore-Rameswaram finally see to be making headway and I leave this weekend.

...

Also, any recommendations for breakfast / lunch on the road will be highly appreciated

Originally Posted by Sanjeev V S

1. Bangalore - Salem (4 hrs)
2. Salem - before Koppalur Toll ( 4 hrs)
3. Before Koppalur toll - Rameshwaram (3hrs)

...

any pointers on Veg restaurants like A2B and others?

How were the roads and time vs distance - if you travelled out as planned?

[ShreyG]

Originally Posted by Haldian

Hello, I am planning this route as follows (Nov/Dec):

Day 1 : BLR -> Madurai : Madurai Temple visit - Night Halt at Madurai
Day 2 : Madurai -> Rameswaram <-> Dhanushkodi - Night Halt at Rameswaram
Day 3 : Rameswaram -> BLR

We, a vegetarian family of 3, will be travelling 1st time on this section. All pointers regarding breaks/stops, stays and food along the route and at destination are welcome.

How were the roads and time vs distance - if you travelled out as planned?

Hello. So the route from Bangalore to Salem is somewhat of a nightmare. Lane closures and maddening traffic. Suggest to keep calm and take in the Bangalore traffic frustration on a National Highway.
Post Salem is superb with lovely roads, amazing scenery and sparse traffic. Roughly breaking down it into 3 sections -
1. Bangalore to Salem is ~4 hours
2. Salem to Madurai is ~ 2.5 hours
3. Madurai to Rameshwaram is ~ 3 hours.

Stops from Bangalore can be at Murugan Idly Shop near Krishnagiri, A2b post Hosur or the multiple variations of Saravanna Bhavan post Krishnagiri. Options between Salem and Madurai are less. Options between Madurai and Rameswaram seemed even fewer.

[Nightmare]

Hi,

I am planning to do a Bangalore-Trichy-Rameswaram drive in the coming week. Don't want to go via Madurai as plan to cover it in separate trip to Kanyakumari.

Reason for Trichy is World Heritage Site Chola Teample in Thanjavur. Any suggestions for route to take? Also what places can one see in Trichy? Thanks.

Regards,

[vrprabhu]

Just completed a round trip to Rameswaram & Thanjavur via Dindigul -> Madurai -> Paramakudi -> Ramanathapuram -> Rameswaram & Dhanushkodi -> Karaikudi -> Pudukottai -> Thanjavur -> Trichy.

There are huge crowds in Madurai, Rameswaram & Thanjavur.

Rameshwaram is a nightmare . If you plan to stay there, book in advance. Room rates have doubled!

In Trichy visit Rockfort, Kallanai (Dam), Srirangam - Ranganathar, Jambukeswarar and Uttamar and Tiruverarumbur (near to Trichy) temples.

If you go beyond Thanjavur you can try places like Gangaikondacholapuram (similar temple to the Big Temple) or places Papanasam, Kumbakonam & Thiruvarur.

[Nightmare]

Originally Posted by Nightmare

Hi,

I am planning to do a Bangalore-Trichy-Rameswaram drive in the coming week. Don't want to go via Madurai as plan to cover it in separate trip to Kanyakumari.

Reason for Trichy is World Heritage Site Chola Teample in Thanjavur. Any suggestions for route to take? Also what places can one see in Trichy? Thanks.

Regards,

Returned back on 3rd January from the trip.

Bangalore - Trichy - Thanjavur - Rameshwaram - Trichy - Bangalore

Followed what Google Maps suggested. No experiments.

Had pre-bookings at all places so no tensions there. Stayed in Rameshwaram Grand in Rameshwaram.

For me, the Darshan was one of the best I ever had at any religious place and that too on 1st day of the year. I was expecting huge queues but was out of the temple in 1 hr flat and got to see Mahadev for a good amount of time. Normally you get pushed before you realize where the idol is . Not to forget the 22 wells snan included.

I did the darshan in afternoon between 4-5 PM and went for VIP darshan (Rs 100 per person) with no queue so that was an advantage. Was told morning darshan had 2 KM queue

Overall covered more than 1400 kms on the trip and came back pretty satisfied.

[UMe]

The map show 2 options, towards bangalore from rameshwaram. via thiruchirapalli and other via madurai.
I took salem-dindigul-madurai route to rameshwaram, with a stopover at madurai. Is madurai-dindigul-salem still the best route while returning to bangalore from rameshwaram. Plan is to leave rameshwaram by 6-7am.

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by UMe

The map show 2 options, towards bangalore from rameshwaram. via thiruchirapalli and other via madurai.
I took salem-dindigul-madurai route to rameshwaram, with a stopover at madurai. Is madurai-dindigul-salem still the best route while returning to bangalore from rameshwaram. Plan is to leave rameshwaram by 6-7am.

Though I have not taken this stretch(Rameswaram - Madurai), this should be the faster (time-wise) and easier option (compared to Trichy route). Madurai route is almost 4 lane roads throughout which is not the case with Trichy route.

[mankuthimma]

Hi All,

We are starting towards Rameshwaram tomorrow, but we will be breaking the journey near Dindigul and will be in Rameshwaram on this saturday and sunday. Few questions.

1. I am interested to take the Kappallur road suggested in this thread which seems like a good option to bypass Madurai city traffic. GMaps shows additional 10 mins which is not at all a problem as long as the road is good and gmaps doesnt mess up with directions. Has anyone taken this road recently? Is it worth taking this deviation?

2. Please suggest a good restaurant to take a break between Madurai and Rameshwaram

3. Also please suggest popular local veg places to eat out while in Rameshwaram.

Originally Posted by airguitar

• Saturday ..: .. by around 3pm get to Rameshwaram. Lunch you can have at Ramanathapuram, jsut before you exit towards Mandapam. Visit Rameshwaram temple in the evening and savour it's grandeur
• Sunday Morning Sunrise time : Mukundarayar Chatram beach - Dhanushkodi - Arichal Munai ( the endpoint ) - when returning from there - Kodanda ramar temple - Breakfast. If you want a second visit to rameshwaram temple in then day time, then do it; it will also be a good time to bath in the 22 theerthas. Then Ramar Padam ( Gandhamadhana temple ) and back to Rameshwaram for Lunch.
  ..
  

This is a perfect itinerary for us. Thank you very much !

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

1. I am interested to take the Kappallur road suggested in this thread which seems like a good option to bypass Madurai city traffic. GMaps shows additional 10 mins which is not at all a problem as long as the road is good and gmaps doesnt mess up with directions. Has anyone taken this road recently? Is it worth taking this deviation?

Its a 4L toll road and for sure you will save some time. The city roads are congested and better to avoid unless you have some planned stops inside the city.

[mankuthimma]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Its a 4L toll road and for sure you will save some time. The city roads are congested and better to avoid unless you have some planned stops inside the city.

Returned from Rameshwaram few days back. Yes! It was an excellent road to bypass Madurai, within no time we were at the round about junction to turn towards Rameshwaram.

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

2. Please suggest a good restaurant to take a break between Madurai and Rameshwaram

Temple City restuarants on either side of the highway, before Madurai, was a good pitstop to take a break. Also noticed a A2B with COCO pump attached in the same area and another Temple City restuarant somewhere in between Madurai and Rameshwaram.

We had lunch at Hotel Vasanthams, at Ramanathapuram junction while returning. Seems like a very popular place and it was fully crowded, but had very nice meals.

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

3. Also please suggest popular local veg places to eat out while in Rameshwaram.

Surprisingly it appeared that whole Rameshwaram economy is geared towards supporting non south indian population who come here in huge numbers to fulfill their pilgrimage and vows. Even the auto drivers first start in Hindi and then switch to local langauge Except for few eateries around the temple, didnt see much options for Tamil food. We had all our meals at the hotel itself which was again mostly North Indian We stayed at Hotel Rameshwaram Grand. The newly built B-block has large rooms with 4 beds. For a large group of ours, this place worked out well compared to Hotel Daiwik both in terms of room size and location.

Had a good darshan at the temple, even though it was weekend and crowded. As suggested in this thread, we went around 4 PM which worked out very nice. Again went next day just to admire the grand prakarams one more time. May be thanks to Modi's visit last month, everything was looking clean and neat.

The different hues and shades of blue/green of the sea water is something really mesmerizing to witness, especially around sunrise at Arichal Munai and then the sea around Villundi Theertham. Not to be missed!

[srvm]

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

Returned from Rameshwaram few days back. Yes! It was an excellent road to bypass Madurai, within no time we were at the round about junction to turn towards Rameshwaram.
....
....

Can you please post a Gmaps link or image of this route to bypass Madurai city on the way to Rameshwaram?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by srvm

Can you please post a Gmaps link or image of this route to bypass Madurai city on the way to Rameshwaram?

I had taken this route more than a decade ago, I think it’s the same one that is being discussed, it’s the Airport Ring Road that you need to take. We used this to get to a hotel not too far from this road (Hotel Metropole opposite the district court complex from where we used the city roads to visit Meenakshi temple) and you can then join this ring road again to proceed towards Rameshwaram, this road circles around a part of Madurai and is a good way to bypass the city.

Had mentioned this in my travelogue here (Dizzy Drive ®:Bangalore-Madurai-Kanyakumari-Rameshwaram-Bangalore in 5 days)

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by srvm

Can you please post a Gmaps link or image of this route to bypass Madurai city on the way to Rameshwaram?

You can check this, https://maps.app.goo.gl/DtwmKrn8KS6Maz5D9